


The Admiral's Paw

by nejkos



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: AU but very much not AU, Animal Transformation, Cat cafe AU, Fix-It, Gerry is a cat now, Multi, Mutual Pining, Original cat characters - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slice of Life, Time Travel, it's kind of canon compliant until mag 160, kind of, self-indulgent as fuck, the thing we all deserve, this is just me realising I can make them happy and no one can stop me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:49:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22424356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nejkos/pseuds/nejkos
Summary: Jon may or may not travel back in time, blow up the Institute, cheat his way into being rich, and open a cat café to make sure his friends can be happy.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims
Comments: 69
Kudos: 404





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is just pure self-indulgent fluff. I needed it after 160 because while it was brilliant it also hurt my poor soul :((

The Entities have been released. 

The world has ended. 

Everyone is dead. 

Jon is alone. 

* * *

He watches the carnage from above, numb and tired, and ready for everything to end. 

Martin died the day before. The last person to stand by his side, to remind him of his humanity. 

What is the point now?

* * *

But no. He can’t let it end like this. The world doesn’t deserve this, the people he loves don’t deserve this.

Martin doesn’t deserve this. 

So he will do something, anything to make it right. To stop this all from happening. 

He desperately tries to _See_ how it could be done, hoping against all hope that the Eye would not deny him this knowledge. 

It is not the Eye that answers. 

But there is an answer all the same.

* * *

Jon is standing in front of Gertrude’s flat. Every date he came across on the tube said it was January 1st 2015. Jon wasn't the Archivist yet, and Sasha, Tim and Martin were still researchers, free to leave the Institute. 

And he knew what to do. 

Throwing a challenging look at the sky, he knocks on the door. 

_Watch me, motherfucker._


	2. The Chapter for all the exposition so we can focus on the fluff next

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People thinking thoughts and Jon having a realisation.

Tim gives the last customer of the day a flirty wink goodbye and picks up Nugget, who is too adventurous for her own good and once again tries to escape through the doors. 

As he stands there holding a purring cat, it finally hits him how bizarre this situation truly is. Six months ago he was still employed at the Magnus Institute, rummaging through old files and researching the supernatural. 

Now he’s a waiter at a cat café. A cat café that is owned and managed by his former co-worker at the Institute, Jonathan Sims. 

Nugget demands to be let down, breaking Tim out of his existential crisis. No use thinking about a job that burned down with the Institute. His new job pays more than being a researcher ever could, which he certainly didn’t see coming when Jon offered him the job.

But he likes the café and the cats, and the customers like him, so he can’t complain. It’s not like he was still seriously looking for his brother, so maybe it was time to let it go and just accept what happened as a weird hallucination. 

He locks the door and starts with cleanup for the day. Sasha comes out of the office and joins him, while Jon herds all the cats through the flap leading to his flat above the shop. A normal end to a normal workday. 

Really, Tim can’t complain. 

* * *

  
  
Martin is nervous. 

This is not an uncommon occurrence, since his chronic anxiety makes him nervous most of the time, but having his crush of almost four years watching him intently drives the nervousness to a whole new level. 

Maybe Jon still doesn’t trust him, Martin thought as he prepares the cats’ lunch for the day. He’s been doing it for six months now, ever since the Admiral’s Paw opened, and there haven’t been any issues so far. He knows how to feed cats!

Sure, when Jon had been hired as a researcher at the Magnus Institute he’d immediately distrusted Martin. That was fair, since Martin didn’t actually have the credentials he claimed, but everyone else had just treated him like another researcher. Jon though, had seen right through his façade. 

Yet, when Jon looks at him now, the condescension and dislike Martin has gotten so used to is absent. And Martin would know, he’s spent way too much time staring at Jon in return. He must have been a masochist, to crush on someone who so obviously thought he wasn’t worth the air he was breathing, but Martin’s choice of who he loved had never been wise. So he’d pined from afar and hadn’t thought anything would ever come from it. 

And then Jon had hired him for his cat café. A cat café he’d financed with a lottery win people usually only dream of. A lottery win that had suspiciously happened immediately before the Institute had burned down. But Jon didn’t have any reason to do it, and the fire had been ruled to be an accident. Turns out there’d been extensive corridors under the Institute, that over time had been filled with gas through a leak. No one knew how long it had been going on, but one lonely Sunday evening, when only Elias Buchard had been left in the Institute, it all pretty much exploded. So maybe the timing was a bit convenient for Jon, but Martin really can’t see him as a murderer or arsonist. 

Martin finishes distributing food and called for the cats, who all come running at Terminal Cat Velocity. They sure have a rambunctious bunch right now. He has to keep an eye on them to make sure every cat gets enough food and there were no shenanigans going on. The Major and the General, two of the three permanent residents of the Admiral’s Paw, come to Martin after they’re done to get their daily dose of cuddles, which Martin gladly gives. When he looks up again, Jon is gone. 

It’s probably just his overactive imagination playing a trick on him, but he could swear Jon looked _fond_ while he was staring _._

* * *

  
  
Sasha was good at her job as a researcher. Really, when the Institute got destroyed she could have taken a different position anywhere. The Usher Foundation even offered her a job as Head Archivist, and yet here she was, trying to run a cat café of all things. She liked cats, very much so, but she didn’t go to school for any of this. There was something though, that called to her. That made her take this job and leave the supernatural behind. 

Maybe it was Jon’s eyes, when he offered her the position, kind and worried for some reason. When asked why he chose a cat café, he just said that nothing bad ever happened at cat cafés. Which was cryptic, but he sounded so convinced that Sasha agreed on the spot. 

So now she’s sitting in the little office, pouring over books with Jon and trying to figure out how to run a business. Although Jon hires experts to do their taxes and so on, he still wants to be able to run the shop without outside help. The fact that they have both worked as researchers for years came in handy when trying to find their way through the maze of bureaucracy. 

Gerry, Jon’s cat, is draped over his shoulders like a weird shaggy scarf, watching and judging them, if Sasha interprets his look correctly. The cat has something almost human about it, which would unnerve Sasha if it wasn’t for the casual and unconcerned way Jon interacts with him. 

Sasha is actually really happy with her new job. It pays well, is close to her home and after leaving the Institute behind, she noticed that there was a certain weight that was taken off of her. Working there was fulfilling all her curiosities, but she can’t help but think that it would have been bad for her in the long run. 

Here, in the café, she feels safe and comfortable. Tim and Martin take care of the front while she takes care of the administration with Jon. There was much to do; talking to the animal shelter they get their cats from, talking to the bakery that supplies them with an assortment of baked goods everyday, finding out the best deal for coffee, tea, cat food and other necessities, and of course taking the time to cuddle a cat or two. 

She’s also gotten the opportunity to get closer to Martin, Tim and Jon. They’re good people, but working in the Institute, they never had the time to properly talk and get to know each other. Sure, Tim, Sasha, and Jon would go to lunch occasionally but they were never _friends._ But now they are, even if they’re still co-workers. They all sit together after the shop closes to eat leftover cake and Sasha has never seen Jon laugh so much. 

The burning of the Institute and Elias’s death were tragic of course, but things had worked out fine, Sasha thinks.

* * *

  
  
Martin is beautiful and it’s a _problem_. 

The thought isn’t new to Jon by any means, but he’s never seen Martin this happy before. Their little vacation before everything ended was nice of course, and Martin had looked happier than in years before that, but compared to now, the Martin of that time seems like a shell of his being. 

Because Martin is radiant. He’s really thriving here, well paid and comfortable in a way he could never be at the Institute. There, the possibility of being fired had always hung over his head, even though Jon suspects that Elias had hired him for a reason and wouldn’t have let him go so easily. But Martin doesn’t know that and so he’d been anxious. In the café, his lack of degree doesn’t mean anything. The cats don’t care if he really has a degree in Parapsychology, and Jon certainly doesn’t as well. 

Martin is _smiling all the time,_ and Jon feels like he’ll spontaneously combust if he looks at Martin for too long. _He’s got dimples for fucks sake._ His other Martin never had dimples, and Jon knows now that they only come out when Martin is genuinely happy and doesn’t worry. His other Martin always worried. 

Of course, “his other Martin” is the same Martin. When Jon jumped back he had no intention of going to a different timeline and leaving the world as it was. No, he jumped back in his own time, erasing all the suffering his now-employees had endured and erasing all the _Marks_ the Entities of Fear had left on him. 

Now he’s marked by something different, but Jon is done with trying to know everything and he tried to be happy without any knowledge about that. He has to stop himself from asking too many questions sometimes, from falling into habits formed by the Eye. Letting things go unknown is a good way of not getting to close. Sometimes he feels like an addict, trying to stay sober. 

The Admiral’s Paw is a good distraction, as are his friends. Even Gerry, now in the form of a cat,, has a knack for getting Jon out of any of his moods. Usually Gerry will bite him, harder than he really needs to, but Jon supposes it’s fair considering all the suffering the Entities had put him through. 

Honestly though, thinking about Martin’s smile is the best thing to pull Jon back to himself and away from his former patron. Or thinking about the way his hair shines in the morning sun, when he puts the sign out front. Or the gentle way he will pet the cats when they beg him for attention. Or the way he looks at Jon when he thinks Jon isn’t looking. 

Jon rarely isn’t looking. 

He's definitely got a problem. 

But there is time for them to get to know each other again. Jon knows that because he made sure of that. The only things that might separate them now are thoroughly mundane. Not that Jon is going to let that happen.

So now the only thing he has to do is ask Martin out. Which he will do! 

Eventually...

Once he figured out how to do that without taking advantage of the fact that he’s Martin’s boss...

He might need to call Georgie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my universe now and in my universe, cats are the best deterrent for the entities, aside from geese who know neither fear nor god. 
> 
> If you like it, maybe leave a comment! I don't know when I will update again because I should really be working on Uni assignments right now, but I'll do my best!


	3. idiots in mutual pining

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so so much for all the comments and kudos! I'm so glad so many people are on board with this little au-but-not-au! ♥
> 
> also i went with full idiot Jon energy for this one

"What happened to you, Jon? You're a disaster," Georgie asks, like the ruthless person she is. 

"You know how I get when I fall in love," Jon grumbles. 

"I do know, but usually you're not in this deep before you do something about it. What's the worst that could happen?" 

Jon sinks further into Georgie's couch, careful not to dislodge the Admiral, who is sitting on his lap. "I could start the apocalypse and kill everyone." 

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," Georgie says, swatting at his shin. 

"I'm his boss!" 

"You are, but you are also a grown man who should have learned to communicate in the last 30 years." 

"I still can't ruin this for him. He loves the shop, and the cats, and Tim, and Sasha. I wouldn't want to make him uncomfortable," Jon says. 

"Oh my god, I give up. You're clearly here to whine at me and get sympathy cuddles from the Admiral. Don't you have enough cats at the café for that?" 

"I can't mope inside the café, and Gerry has no sympathy." 

"That cat is an angel, don't you slander him." 

"He just loves you. In reality he's the cat version of a grumpy goth, not that I can blame him I suppose." 

"The point is-" Georgie says, getting up from the couch and cruelly taking the Admiral with her "- that you need to stop moping and I will not let you use my cat to comfort you for being stupid." 

Jon just puts his face into his hands and groans. 

* * *

Tim loves this. He’s sitting at Jon’s desk in the office, waiting for him to come in for the day. Originally he just came to suggest something but then he found _ this. _

_ This  _ being a stack of horrendous gossip magazines, neatly hidden from view except if you happen to sit in Jon’s seat. Tim is truly sad that Sasha isn’t in the office to share this with him. He’s just getting to the juicy bit in an article about the prime minister’s secret affair with a goat, when Jon walks in and stops dead. 

“I can explain,” Jon says, looking like he very much does not want to explain. 

“Oh please do,” Tim says. Jon closes the door and falls into the loveseat that he’d bought to make the office more comfortable. 

“I have no good way of explaining it,” Jon says into the cushion. 

“I’ll take the bad explanation, Boss,” Tim says, grinning. “In fact, I’m hoping for a really bad explanation. Those are always the best.”   
Jon mumbles something Tim cannot hear, but a moment later he sits up and faces Tim. 

“I swear this is not paranoia,” Jon starts out, which seems very promising to Tim,”but sometimes I have the feeling that I’m being watched. So, out of spite, I guess you could call it, I read the worst thing I can find.”

“And ‘You Won’t Believe Which Rockstar Has Disguised Himself As The Queen For Twenty Years’ is the worst you could find? One of my friends roommate is really into size-kink scalie porn, and he could definitely provide you with far worse things,” Tim says. Jon just stares at him for a moment. 

“I don’t know if I am happy that you do not seem to question my motives, or horrified at the reading material you’re suggesting.”

“You could be both. Efficiency, you know?”

Jon snorts before quickly hiding his face behind his arm. “You’re unbelievable.”

“People tell me that all the time, especially in bed,” Tim says, wiggling his eyebrows. Jon rolls his eyes, but Tim can see the corner of Jon’s mouth twitching. 

“Moving on, Tim, what are you invading my workspace for?” Jon asks.

“I want to make an Instagram for the café,” Tim says, smiling beatifically. “You know what that is, right?”

Jon glowers at him. “I know what Instagram is, Tim. Though I hardly see why we would need one. We’re popular enough, aren’t we?”

“But Jon, don’t you want more guests so we can help more kitties? That’s the whole reason you opened this place, right? Imagine if we could advertise the cats on Instagram, they would be adopted so much faster!” Tim says. 

He’s not wrong, except that Jon did not open the café because of the cats. As much as he loves them, he would not have opened a cat café of all things if it wasn’t for the added benefits. Cat cafés, for some reason, are safe from the Entities. It only seemed logical to open one and finally make Martin’s wish for everyone to be okay come true. 

This might include letting Tim make an Instagram account. Jon sighs. 

“You’ll have to look into the legalities of it, data protection of the customers and all that,” he says waving his hand vaguely. Tim beams. 

“Nice, Boss! I’ll get started on that after my shift!” And with that, Tim saunters out of the room. As he leaves, he can hear Jon talking to Gerry again. He looks over his shoulder.

“Oh sod off, or I’ll tell Tim to make you the star of the Instagram,” Jon says. Gerry just flicks his tail and goes back to sleep. 

* * *

Sasha finds Martin hiding in the corner of the storage room. He’s sitting on the ground, knees to his chest, and hiding his face in his hands. The tips of his ears are red. 

“What happened?” Sasha asks, trying not to laugh. Martin starts and hits the back of his head on the wall behind him, giving Sasha a betrayed look when he realises it’s her. 

“Ow, warn a guy,” he whines. Sasha just laughs at him. 

“You were too far into dream-land, Martin. I dropped a box of sugar on the way in and you didn’t notice,” she says, sitting down beside him. Martin drops his head onto her shoulder. 

It’s nice, this intimacy they’ve established. Six months ago when they started here, they were simply old co-workers, but somehow they’d become like family to Sasha ever since. Turns out, Martin is as cuddly as he looks. Except when it comes to Jon, and Sasha has definitely seen the envious way Jon looks when Martin gets cuddly with her and Tim. 

Next to her, Martin groans and hides his face again, bringing her back to the present. 

“I’m so fucked. I’m so so fucked. I cannot work with Jon anymore, I should quit this job and live the rest of my life deep in the woods where I cannot embarrass myself.”

“Oh  _ please _ tell me what happened, this sounds great already,” Sasha grins and Martin sighs. 

“Okay so, how to describe it. I was going over the cat food shelf, counting everything, making sure that we have enough, you get it. And  _ apparently  _ Jon had left his glasses on that shelf for whatever reason, and when he came looking for it, instead of asking me to pass them over like a  _ normal _ person, he got them himself. But since the glasses were literally right there in front of me, he had to get right up in my space, which I guess I don’t  _ mind _ that, but I would really prefer a warning to prepare myself. That wasn’t even the part that set me off though,” Martin says and goes red again. “He might have hugged me? Look, I’m really not sure if I’m not just reading into this? Maybe it didn’t even happen?”

“He  _ hugged _ you?”

“I mean, kind of? He pressed into my side and I thought  _ this is fine  _ but then I felt his arm around my waist? He used it to steady himself, I guess, while he leaned over, but then when he left his hand kind of  _ caressed _ my back? Is that a hug? Sasha, am I just going crazy? Is that normal Jon behaviour now, because I won’t survive that,” Martin says, working himself up into a panic and Sasha can’t have that. She sits up a bit more because Martin is tall, and then starts running her hand through his hair. It’s soft and curly. As expected, the action calms him down a bit. 

“Hey, it’s okay. This is good right? Jon has always been so cagey about everything, especially touch, so this means he’s comfortable with you. That’s a huge step towards the both of you finally doing something about all this pining Tim and I have to put up with.”

“I’m not pining! And Jon is  _ certainly _ not pining. He’s hated me since 2011 when he started at the Institute! Just because he might not hate me anymore doesn’t mean he _ pines _ for me now. Just saying that sounds ridiculous,” Martin scoffs. 

Sasha hums, unconvinced. “For now, how about we go out there again and do our jobs. We can go out for drinks after work and you can tell me all about how good Jon felt against you.”

“Sasha! I never even said anything about that!” Martin sounds scandalized but then just sort of slumps. “You’re right though. I could  _ really  _ use some drinks.”

“Well then, back into the fray,” Sasha says and extends a hand to help Martin up. 

When they’re almost out the door, she can hear Martin mutter. “Jon doesn’t _ pine _ , that’s ludicrous.” 

She just laughs.

* * *

Jon wants to do something about Daisy and Melanie. Basira on her own would be fine, but Daisy is already an Avatar of the hunt, which in turn means that Basira is also involved. He could send an anonymous email to one of them, but he doubts that Daisy would just let that go. She’s a hunter for a reason, and Jon really does not want to be her prey (again). 

He’d decided to deal with Daisy and Basira first, because Melanie still had a bit of time left before she would get arrested and her career would fall apart, if she even would in this timeline. He has no idea what kind of effects the demise of the Institute will have. 

So he decides to tell Basira to look out for Daisy, and maybe explain the Entities to her a bit. She is already too deeply involved with them anyways, so there isn’t that much he can do. 

As it so often happens, his plan doesn’t work. 

It’s a chilly october afternoon and both Georgie and Melanie are sitting in the café. He can’t not say hello, he knows that. Georgie and he only recently reconnected and he had really tried to be more open with her. Of course, he hasn’t told her everything, but if she ever asks, he would tell her. Melanie though, is a bomb ready to go off anytime. He doesn’t know if he can interact with her without antagonizing her. But it looks like he’ll have to try. 

“Hello Georgie. Have you come to visit Gerry?” he asks and as if called, Gerry appears and immediately jumps into Georgie’s lap. He will now ignore anything that isn’t Georgie until she forcibly removes him.

“Hey Jon,” Georgie says,”This is Melanie King, you remember her right?”

“I do,” Jon says, trying to be friendly. “Ghost Hunt UK, if I’m not mistaken.” 

And look. Jon has a lot of talents. Hiding his disdain is not one of them. It’s not even Melanie’s fault this time, but the thought that there are people out there making light of the supernatural for fame has never sat right with him, and apparently that did not change after he got firsthand experience with things far more terrifying than any Youtuber could ever imagine. 

Melanie, of course, notices. 

“Oh that reaction is just wonderful from a guy who worked at the Magnus Institute. A bunch of so called academics researching the supernatural, but not even able to figure out the building was about to blow up,” she says.

As Jon managed to blow said building up without anyone noticing, he cannot really argue that point. Still, he has to take a second to breathe in order not to give in to the urge to argue with Melanie. He can’t get into a screaming match in front of the other customers. 

No matter how much he wants to. 

“I… apologize. I didn't mean to make light of your work, I’m sure you entertain lots of people with your Youtube videos,” Jon says. There, that was alright, wasn’t it?

“You don’t have to be so condescending, you know? If you got something against my Youtube channel you can say so,” Melanie says. Apparently, Jon is unable to not piss her off. So he does what any smart person would do. 

He throws a glance at Georgie, sending her a silent plea to help him. Georgie is gracious today, and steps in. 

“Hey, guys, calm down. Melanie, Jon is trying to be nice, please excuse his lack of social skills. There’s a reason he works in the back of the café even though he owns it. And Jon, maybe don’t talk about the Youtube Channel. It’s a sensitive topic.”

“You can just say it’s dead, Georgie,” Melanie says, clearly bitter. “There isn’t much I can do alone.”

“There are plenty of Youtube Channels that are managed by one person, Melanie,” Georgie says, and it’s clearly something she said before. Melanie grumbles, unwilling to fight Georgie like she would fight Jon. 

“That doesn’t mean shit if everyone else in the community thinks I’m crazy.”

“Do you want to work here?” Jon hears himself say. And well, if there is one thing he’s learned it’s that he cannot fight his own idiocy. So he might as well commit. “Tim approached me today because he wants to make an Instagram account, and having a Youtube Channel could be good for the café as well.”

Both Melanie and Georgie stare at him as if he just sprouted a third eye on his forehead. He resists the temptation to check. Georgie looks at Melanie, who is still looking at Jon. 

“Are you serious?” she asks, frowning. 

“Of course, you needn’t be worried about payment. I have enough to employ you for at least ten years,” Jon says. This could be a good thing. If Melanie works in the café the Slaughter can’t get to her. Jon would prefer not to get stabbed by her again. 

“What the fuck,” Melanie says. Georgie’s eyes are flitting between Melanie and Jon. 

“Melanie, maybe you should think on it for a few days? A change of scenery might be good, who knows?” Georgie says. 

Melanie still looks both incredulous and skeptical, so Jon does the only thing he can think of at that moment. He grabs Nugget, who was just walking past, and deposits her onto Melanie’s lap. Nugget starts purring like a chainsaw and demands love from Melanie. Jon blinks. 

“Huh, she really likes you. She’s affectionate to everyone but I’ve never heard her purr this loudly,” he says. Melanie is still glowering, but it’s a weak thing and soon disappears as Nugget distracts her. Georgie gives Jon discreet thumbs up. 

A few days later, Melanie accepts the job and adopts Nugget as well. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to write this entire chapter today! It's not as long as I wanted it to be, but starting tomorrow my life will consist of presentations and term papers :) :) :)
> 
> The bit about Jon reading gossip magazines just came to me one morning and I had to include it. On that note, if you have any random headcanons you'd like me to write about just comment and if i vibe with them they might make it into the story!


End file.
